The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NNPC

  • $16b gas project: ‘Blame NNPC for Ijaw, Itsekiri violence’

    $16b gas project: ‘Blame NNPC for Ijaw, Itsekiri violence’

    The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has been blamed for the “misinformation,” which led to Tuesday’s clash between the Ijaw of Gbaramatu and Itsekiri of Ugborodo in Warri Southwest of Delta State.

    Many were injured in the early morning invasion of Madangho, an Itsekiri community, by armed Ijaw youths.

    The attackers were said to be replying an attack by Itsekiri youths, where an Ijaw man working at the $16 billion gas city project site, got injured.

    Dr Ayo Ayomike, the secretary of the Itsekiri EPZ Interface Committee, said the initial attack, was carried out in error because the youth misunderstood the clearing of Madangho, which had been removed as the project’s host.

    He said: “Based on the understanding between NNPC and the parties (Ijaw and Itsekiri), Kpokpo and Madangho, which were earlier proposed for the deep sea port, were removed because of the dispute. The port was relocated to Gbaramatu.”

    Ayomike said the Itsekiri did not envisage that clearing was going to take place at Madangho because of the relocation.

    The spokesman said the clearing followed the decision of the NNPC to move the tools for the project to Madangho for lack of fund.

    He said Madangho was chosen for the power and water plants because the site had been sand-filled by Chevron Nigeria Limited.

    Ayomike added: “It was the failure by NNPC to let the committee know their decision to bring the utilities – power plant and water plants – to Madangho that led to the attack. They didn’t tell us. If they had told us, we would have been aware and educated our people.

    “Since they did not tell us, the people who took the laws in their hands did what they did. We are not saying what they did is right, but if the NNPC had told us we would have averted this problem.

    “Even though it can be argued that Madangho can be a link from the gas city to the port, you cannot link the site of the project and the proposed new position of the port without building a road. But at this early stage, it was necessary for NNPC to let the EPZ committee know.

    “It is this penchant by the NNPC for not carrying the committee along that caused this problem. The issues that we have to deal with today would have been averted, if they had carried the committee along.

    “If the coordinates were known by us, we would have known and told our people. If Madangho is known to be owned by the Itsekiri and you bring a company to work there, shouldn’t they let the Itsekiri know that such a company is working or is coming to work at that place?”

    The spokesman said the community would always cooperate with the NNPC through the committee.

    But it advised the parties to carry the community along so that the people would know what NNPC was doing.

    Ayomike said: “NNPC cannot claim to have spoken to one strong man here or there. There are recognised bodies that have been put in place that they ought to be dealing with. If they had dealt with the body, the problem we had wouldn’t have arisen.”

  • Yes, let’s probe NNPC; declare assets

    While this column is in favour of a President Muhammadu Buhari drawing the line from June 1, 2015 and moving on swiftly with the enormous tasks at hand, an enquiry into the activities of our petroleum behemoth is in order. All appointees declaring their assets is also sine qua non for anyone to hold any post in the new era.

    The activities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation as well as that of a few other strategic national agencies need to be reviewed and put into perspective as a tool for revamping the economy. Never again must such savaging of NNPC as happened under Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke be allowed to happen – ever.

  • A word for NNPC

    A word for NNPC

    I write to draw attention to a growing culture of favouritism and nepotism, which may have been in the gazette as official policy in the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Its branches across the nation are giving undue advantage to people who do not merit to being absorbed into the system at the expense of people with good expertise and knowledge.

    While it could not be confirmed if favouritism is official policy at the NNPC, it is interesting to know that the management of the oil firm has denied several students an opportunity to undertake their Industrial Training (IT) and gain adequate knowledge on their fields of study.

    The reason for this discrimination may have been because the rejected students do not have highly-connected parents, uncles or insiders in government to influence their placement and fix them at juicy sections of the corporation. But many underserving students, who have connections and insiders, are given placement for the same programme without any stress.

    To say the action is unpatriotic is to restate what is obvious, but it is pertinent to state, here, that many brilliant students are being denied opportunities to showcase their genius and expertise without cogent reasons. This is rather sad and it exposes the flaws of a country that is craving for development but not ready to explore the knowledge of its best brains.

    This piece is written to draw attention of the Minister of Petroleum Resources and the NNPC management of the ugly trend being practised in the firm. It is alarming to know that a few opportune Nigerians are now running this public corporation as though, it is their personal estate. The so-called “Directors-in-Charge” at NNPC subsidiaries are denying brilliant students placements to acquire industrial experience. At NNPC, you have to know senior directors or powerful insider to either be employed or considered for training. Where is the place of merit?

    I have never believed this happens until I became a victim. I am a student aspiring for the best education couple with world-class experience. I had thought the best place for me to hone my business and investment skill is NNPC. I believed it would be the right place to actualise my career objectives and I have no hidden motive for my choice.

    I, therefore, applied to one of NNPC’s subsidiaries in charge of investment for a year Industrial Training as mandated by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE). After I submitted all the requirement letters as specified by the NNPC’s General Manager for Services, my application was forwarded to the Human Resources Department for further processing. I was informed I would be contacted.

    After waiting for more than a month of no response, I decided to check back at the corporation and find out what may have caused the delay. I directed my enquiry to Human Resources Unit and a staff member treating my enquiry checked her computer to verify. She returned to tell me that my application had “no approval” status. I asked what she meant by no approval? She replied pointblank: “If you don’t come through anybody here, you cannot get placement here. I am sorry my dear, that is how it works here, you must know somebody inside.”

    I was dazed by her response and I felt gravely disappointed because such a public corporation that is collectively owned by all Nigerians has now been hijacked by a group of people who have decided that only their relatives and family members alone can benefit from our collective resources. From further inquiry, I discovered that many other brilliant students have been denied placement at the corporation due to the culture of nepotism and favoritism being practised in this reputable organisation.

    I hope the Minister and NNPC management would look into this issue and call the subsidiaries’ directors to order. They must stop this culture and give brilliant students opportunity to improve their knowledge through unconditional offer of industrial training.

     

    • Abiodun is a student of Nigerian

     Institute of Journalism (NIJ), Lagos

  • Reps summon NNPC, DPR, others over crude diversion

    Reps summon NNPC, DPR, others over crude diversion

    • Debate on 2015 budget, PIB today

    The House of Representatives has summoned the management team of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and National Oil Spill Detection Response Agency (NOSDRA) over an allegation that Universal Energy Resources Limited is diverting crude oil deposit at Stubo Creek Marginal Field.

    The ad hoc committee headed by Hon. Friday Itulah which is in charge of the investigation has also invited other stakeholders such as the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), representative of Akwa-Ibom government, the Chief of Mbo and the Youth Development Association of Mbo, all in the Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa-Ibom State.

    The public hearing is slated for tomorrow.

    A similar but more profound investigation chaired by Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele had been ordered by the Speaker of the House,  Aminu Tambuwal, on March 12 this year to investigate the revenue earned by Federal Government from oil export, other sources as well as ascertain the state of the Nigerian economy last year.

    Also, on resumption from 2015 Governorship and State Assembly elections recess yesterday, lawmakers may likely consider the report of the Committee on 2015 Budget and the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

    Two years after it was referred to the committee by the leadership of the House, Mohammed Bawa. Chairman of the adhoc Committee on PIB had on March 12 this year laid the report before the House.

    It is therefore expected that the lawmakers will commence debate on the 707-page report of the Adhoc committee for the “Act to provide for the establishment of a legal, fiscal and regulatory framework for the petroleum industry in Nigeria and for other related matters.” before the expiration of the seventh Assembly in June this year.

  • Panic in NNPC, other oil agencies

    Panic in NNPC, other oil agencies

    •Jonathan’s administration begins reconciliation of crude oil records
    •How Mandela predicted President-elect’s victory

    The victory of General Muhammadu Buhari in the March 28 presidential election is already causing panic in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other Federal Government-owned companies in the oil/energy sector.

    Officials of the companies, many of whom did not anticipate President Goodluck Jonathan’s defeat, are now under pressure to bring their accounts and oil receipts up to date for presentation to the in-coming government.

    Some of the information is even expected to be made available during the transitional period in the coming days.

    President Jonathan yesterday kick-started the transition by meeting with General Buhari at the State House, Abuja, even as associates of the President-elect recalled how the late President Nelson Madela of South Africa predicted,12 years ago, that Buhari would one day return to lead Nigeria as a civilian president.

    It was gathered that the outgoing administration of President Goodluck Jonathan has commenced the reconciliation of crude oil production records including royalties and other funds remitted into government accounts and taxes paid to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

    Government expects oil records to dominate discussion at the transition committee briefings since oil is Nigeria’s financial back bone. It is a familiar terrain for Buhari who was Commissioner (as the position was designated under the military) for Petroleum Resources in the 1970s.

    Lately, public interest in the finances of the NNPC has soared, sparked by an allegation by the immediate past governor of the Central Bank (CBN), Mallam Lamido Sanusi that $20 billion of its funds was missing.

    For instance, he told a Senate Committee hearing on the allegation that NNPC officials were withholding large amounts of money from crude oil exports from the Federation account.

    He said that during the period 2012-2013, the NNPC sliced off 76% of crude oil proceeds – a total of N8 trillion ($48.9 billion).

    Sanusi was later suspended and is now the Emir of Kano.

    His predecessor at the CBN, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, said in a different allegation that about N30tr was either missing or unaccounted for by the Federal Government.

    An audit report prepared by Price Water House Coopers on NNPC finances showed that less than $2 billion was missing.

    Government asked the corporation to pay the money forthwith into its account.

    An oil/gas sector source said yesterday that a major issue being addressed by the outgoing administration is how to put oil records in proper perspective because the new government will be interested.

    “There is panic in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other subsidiaries on oil receipts,”the source said.

    “Already, officials of some of these agencies have been working round the clock to reconcile oil records in order to be able to face the Buhari transition team.

    “Some of these agencies might also meet with FIRS to make sure that the records tally. No one expected a Buhari presidency but it has now come. This requires working round the clock to give full account of oil production and revenue.”

    Another source said: “Feelers indicate that Nigerians would want cogent explanation on the controversial $20 billion.

    “So, the development in the oil sector is key to the work of the transition committee.”

    Sources also said that some of the international oil companies (IOCs) are prepared to make their records available to Buhari.

    “You can see that if any attempt is made to pad the records by any agency, the IOCs will not be part of it. This is why it is necessary for every official to be straightforward.

    “Some of the IOCs are willing to release the records in their care to assist the government to put things in order in NNPC and other agencies.”

    On Mandela’s prediction, Buhari’s associates said it had been a massive motivation all these years.

    One of the associates said that shortly after losing the 2003 presidential poll to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Mandela had a one-hour engagement on the phone with Buhari.

    Mandela asked Buhari not to lose hope about ruling the country.

    Mandela said: “I spent 27 years in jail and came out to become South Africa’s President. You can still be president.

    “Since the election of Buhari, what Mandela said 12 years ago has been resuscitated. We were all excited when we saw a copy of the newspaper which reported Mandela’s advice to Buhari. Though he is dead, his prediction has come to pass.

    “This has confirmed his sage status. His golden words were part of those behind the resilience of Buhari. We are hopeful that the President-elect will serve the nation like Mandela did because they share many things in common, especially selfless service.”

  • Fed Govt plans deregulated gas price regime

    Fed Govt plans deregulated gas price regime

    THE  Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Department of Petroleum (DPR) have advised manufacturers using gas to prepare for a ‘deregulated gas price’ mechanism.

    The new regime may be introduced before the implementation of the Nigerian Gas Transporation Network Code (NGTNC).

    The Group Executive Director,  Gas and Power, NNPC, Dr David Ige, who made this known in Lagos, said the time had come for manufacturers and other domestic gas users to buy the product at varying prices.

    NNPC and DPR are asking foreign and indigenous firms to prepare for a market where price would be determined by supply and demand and not by the government as the NGTNC gets underway.

    The execution of the NGTNC code, according to DPR, is in three stages: The manual (2015); partial auto (2016) and full auto implementation in 2017.

    NGTNC is  being introduced by NNPC nad DPR, following complaints by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) that its members that the supply of gas is not transparent.

    The government fixed the price of gas at $2.5 per 1000 standard cubic feet (scf) for power plants; methanol, fertiliser and petrochemical firms will buy at $3 for 1000 scf.

    Ige said the manufacturers complaints that the exchange rate of  one dollar to N197 (official price) had eaten deep into their production costs was understandable, urging them to wait for the code.

    He said the differential rates were bound to come up because of the government’s efforts at making operators access the product.

    Customers he said, could buy gas at  $2.5, $2.8, and $3, depending on the sellers.

    Ige, represented by the General Manager, Gas Pipeline Infrastructure, NNPC, Sam Mbakwe, said  buyers and sellers would start choosing from various customers in the market.

    He said: “We are heading to a period where there would be willing buyers and willing sellers in the gas industry. The government regulated price is going to disappear soon. The regulated price is there because there are no commercial structures in place to guide the operation of the market. Once there are structures that would guide commercial activities, there would be change in the ways transactions are conducted. This will be made possible by the Nigerian Gas Transportation Network Code.

    “You don’t expect somebody to bring his money, invest it by laying gas pipelines and charge lower prices for transporting gas from his base to where users or buyers would use the product. The economy is becoming market driven. What the government is saying is that people should handle gas from the commercial point of view.”

    The Deputy Director, Gas Monitoring and Regulation, DPR, Antigha Ekaluo, said: “The goal of the code is to allow the forces of demand and supply to govern the market. DPR wants to reduce its intervention in the sector by taking a back seat. Though the DPR would perform its oversight functions or roles of ensuring that everything works out fine in the oil and gas industry, the body will take a back seat position to encourage growth.”

    He said gas price fixing was out-side DPR’s purview, stressing that the industry would decide the price. “If you are a manufacturer and you have an item to sell, you fix your price and sell. Whoever is willing to buy your product would come and vice-versa. The same thing is what we are advocating for in the gas sector. The slogan is free entry, free exit.”

    Ekaluo allayed fears that manufacturers would leave the market, saying the market is big to accommodate many players. He said no gas producers would sell at a fixed price.

    The Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry ((LCCI), Mr. Muda Yusuf, said manufacturers were using their own power plants because electricity supply is irregular. He said plants use gas, noting that  the huge cost of gas is inhibiting economic growth.

    Yusuf said: “Manufacturers rely on alternative source of energy for growth. But the questions are: At what rate are they buying diesel to power their generators? At what price are they procuring gas for their power plants? The price is huge. This informed the decision of manufacturers to use advocacy as a tool of making the government reduce electricity tariff.’’

  • Shun panic fuel buying, hoarding, NNPC urges

    Shun panic fuel buying, hoarding, NNPC urges

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday urged  members of the public to shun panic buying and stock-piling of petrol as there is enough stock of the product to keep the country wet for two months.

    In a statement endorsed by its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ohi Alegbe, the Corporation put the current stock of premium motor spirit (petrol) in its depots across the country at 1.9 billion litres.

    It also appealed to tanker drivers who had stopped hauling fuel from depots in the coastal states to the Northern part of the country for fear of being caught in unfounded fears of post-election violence, to return to work as the Corporation is working closely with security agencies to provide maximum security for them.

  • NNPC cautions against panic buying, hoarding

    NNPC cautions against panic buying, hoarding

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Wednesday called on members of the public to shun panic buying and stock-piling of petrol as there is enough stock of the product to keep the country on for two months.

    In a statement made available to journalists by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ohi Alegbe, the Corporation put the current stock of premium motor spirit (petrol) in its depots across the country at 1.9 billion litres.

    It also appealed to tanker drivers who had stopped hauling fuel from depots in the coastal states to the Northern part of the country for fear of being caught in unfounded fears of post-election violence, to return to work as the Corporation is working closely with security agencies to provide maximum security for them.

    The Corporation also cautioned marketers to desist from capitalizing on the situation to hoard and divert petroleum products thereby subjecting Nigerians to unnecessary hardship, adding that the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, has directed the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to sanction any marketer found hoarding, diverting or selling products above regulated prices.

    The Corporation urged members of the public to discountenance rumours or insinuations of petrol scarcity as all issues relating to the importation of fuel by marketers have been resolved, stressing that the Petroleum Pipelines and Marketing Company (PPMC) has released a huge volume of petrol into the market.

  • NNPC condemns Sanusi’s position on alleged missing $20b

    NNPC condemns Sanusi’s position on alleged missing $20b

    The Management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Thursday described the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, comments on the alleged missing $20 billion oil revenue as false allegation.

    In a statement, the corporation condemned the monarchy’s position saying that the issues surrounding the allegation were yet to be addressed sufficiently by the by the findings of the Senate Committee on Finance and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

    The statement which the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ohi Alegbe  made available to journalists Thursday, the NNPC ” raised a strong objection to the latest gambit of the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, who against the findings of the Senate Committee on Finance and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has reiterated his false allegation of unremitted $20bn oil revenue against the Corporation claiming that the issues surrounding his allegation have not been adequately addressed.”

    The Corporation stated that the respected traditional ruler has got it wrong again in the same way his failure to grasp the issues of remittances to the Federation Account led him into the embarrassing error of alleging that NNPC failed to remit $49.8bn oil revenue into the Federation Account, an allegation which has since been proved to be false even by his own account.

    “Our attention has been drawn to the latest gambit of the former CBN governor and Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, to reinvent the wheel of his false allegations against the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation by insisting, during an interview with Christiane Amanpour of the Cable News Network (CNN), that the issues surrounding his allegation of unremitted $20bn have not been adequately addressed.

    “According to the royal father, ‘One of them (issues) is the billions of dollars being paid in kerosene subsidies without appropriation by the National Assembly and against a presidential order and we don’t know who authorised those payments and yet no one has owned up to say I authorised the payments, I made a mistake’.

    “But it is on record that he (as CBN Governor) attended the hearings of the Senate Committee on Finance where the issue of kerosene subsidy was exhaustively looked at vis-à-vis the Presidential Memo directing the removal of kerosene subsidy. The explanation was that the process of implementing the Presidential directive was not followed through by the Minister of Petroleum Resources at that time as required by law which technically meant that kerosene subsidy was not removed. It was on the basis of this that the Senate Committee on Finance in its report recommended that the Executive should prepare and present to the National Assembly a supplementary budget ‘to cover the expenditure in the sum of N90.6bn for PMS (premium motor spirit) subsidy 2012 and N685.9bn for kerosene subsidy expended without appropriation by the National Assembly’.

    “PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) also observed in its recent forensic audit report thus: Regarding the issue of subsidy on DPK (kerosene) the Presidential Directive of 19 October, 2009, was not gazetted and there is no other legal instrument cancelling the subsidy on DPK. The Senate Committee had also concluded that all that was now required was for the FGN to propose appropriation for the unappropriated subsidy for the period in a supplemental budget.

    “We are therefore at a loss as to what Sanusi II meant by his statement that issues surrounding his allegation of unremitted $20bn, especially regarding kerosene subsidy, have not been adequately addressed.

    “It would be recalled that Sanusi II began his campaign of calumny against the Corporation with a false alarm that it failed to remit a whopping $49.8bn being proceeds of crude oil sales into the Federation Account.

    “Upon reconciliation of the figures with relevant agencies whereupon it was discovered that the balance of unremitted oil revenue was actually the amount spent by the Corporation on its operations in accordance with the law (NNPC Act), Sanusi II began to play games with figures submitting at various times that $10.8bn, $12, and $20bn was what was unremitted by the Corporation.

    “Both the Senate Committee on Finance and PricewaterhouseCoopers have investigated the allegations and came out with reports exonerating the Corporation.

    “Why the royal father appears hell-bent on hanging a tag of corruption on the Corporation even when all the inquiries into his allegation of unremitted funds have proved otherwise remains a mystery to us.

    “But we believe that his royal dignity will be best served and preserved if he owns up to his error of raising false allegation and apologize for same rather than continue in error believing that if he continues to harp on his false allegation it will someday be accepted as the truth.”

    The Corporation enjoined Nigerians and the general public to discountenance the latest attempt to resurrect the campaign of calumny against it.

  • PwC forensic audit reports and the NNPC

    PwC forensic audit reports and the NNPC

    Finally, the Pricewater-houseCoopers Forensic Audit Report draws the curtain on the 15-month drama in which the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was docked in the court of public opinion. The allegations that NNPC was not faithful to its fiduciary responsibility to the federal government and the people of Nigeria began like a child’s play. Initial steps taken to douse the issue, including the inter-agency reconciliation committee led by the Ministry of Finance, failed to get Nigerians to give NNPC a clean bill of health.

    From exchanges back and forth, during the long drawn drama, it was clear that Nigerians were angry with NNPC. Some, in bitter postulations, imagined that the corporation was a haughty, profit-minded, slave-driving multinational. However, nothing would obliterate the fact that the giant National Oil Company is 100% a Nigerian baby established and managed by Nigerians for Nigeria.

    But it bears observing that the corporation over the years had treated mildly or even whitewashed similar allegations. Perhaps unconsciously, it assumed that simply adhering strictly to its enabling legislation and internationally acceptable corporate governance standards and ethics, it owed no duty to the man on the street. For those who held this opinion, the allegation of unremitted $49.8bn became an opportunity to deflate the mighty NNPC: It was not important whether the allegation was fabricated or not, making it stick would make the corporation look bad, and lose face. Sad.

    Maybe the furore and near-panic in government circles that greeted the allegation of missing $49.8bn crude revenue could be attributed to the personality of the person who made the allegation, the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (now the Emir of Kano).

    Sanusi, who was present at the hearing, expressed satisfaction with the findings of the committee.

    It was at that hearing that Dr. Okonjo-Iweala averred that the committee had no technical competence to verify the claims of $2.1bn for pipeline repairs and maintenance, and strategic reserves and suggested that forensic auditors be engaged to examine the expenditure as claimed by the NNPC.

    However, like one launching an ambush, stepping out of the Senate Chambers, Sanusi in a prepared press statement stated that $20 billion was the new amount yet to be remitted to the Federation Account by NNPC and not the $12 billion he had earlier alleged or the $10.8 billion given by the Inter-Agency Committee.

    The report asserted that the entire revenue accruable to the Federation Account during the period under investigation was $50.81 billion and not $48.9 billion as alleged by Sanusi. The amount has been fully accounted for and clearly categorised under the various components of the accruable revenue.

    The PwC report did also raise the issue of ‘outstanding $1.48 bn’ being ‘signature bonus due for divested assets and taxes/royalties’ which it recommended should be remitted by NNPC to the Federation Account. Was that not an indictment on NNPC? The NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr. Joseph T. Dawha, in his explanation described the $1.48bn as comprising signature bonus, taxes and royalties on the oil wells divested by Shell, which NNPC acquired and transferred to its upstream subsidiary, the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company, NPDC. Signature bonus, according to Dr Dawha, represents the book value of the assets and was estimated at $1.847bn by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

    However, NNPC raised issues with the parameters used in calculating the signature bonus since the assets involved were old wells. NNPC had paid $300 million pending when both parties would come to terms on a mutually acceptable estimate of the book value of the assets. The NNPC boss submits therefore that the $1.48bn was not part of the alleged unremitted revenue from crude oil sales or missing oil revenue. And going by the explanation, the $1.48bn is not an amount willingly withheld by NNPC but rather an amount which was in dispute by two sister agencies and so the recommendation of the PwC forensic audit report can be seen as a resolution of the dispute. It is therefore erroneous for anyone to see it as an indictment of the NNPC in anyway.

    Beyond the hoopla and hysteria, were there any lessons gained from the Sanusi allegations? Several! A significant lesson is that openness and transparency should be the rule of the thumb in the transactions of a public enterprise like the NNPC.

    Secondly, the public deserves to know how its oil wealth is being managed. As a matter of fact, one assumes that the NNPC has learnt the vital lesson that explanation of issues regarding its transactions does not have to be just once and that it owes it a duty to the Nigerian public to explain as many times as necessary till the people understand and assimilate the issues.

    All said and done, the legislature and executive must be proactive in terms of putting in place legislations, institutions and processes that make for robust inter-agency interactions to eliminate the kind of misunderstanding that led to the allegation in the first place. If such proactive measures had been in place, the pains and costs of the past fifteen months could have been avoided.

    – Akaniyene is a Port-Harcourt-based financial services consultant. He can be reached at ibakaniyene@aol.com.